Billy Crystal: $1M to Sandy-damaged NY beach town

LONG BEACH, N.Y. (AP) — Billy Crystal has helped raise $1 million to rebuild his native beach town on New York’s Long Island hard-hit by Superstorm Sandy.

The “City Slickers” and “When Harry Met Sally” star announced the gift to the city of Long Beach on Saturday, while standing on a newly installed patch of the town’s boardwalk.

Newsday reports (http://bit.ly/1a2coWT) $112,000 of the gift will come from Crystal’s family. The $888,000 is coming from money he helped raise at the annual Celebrity Fight Night fundraiser in March, an event that raises money for the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center at Barrow Neurological Institute and other charities.

Crystal made the announcement before hundreds of beachgoers.

Officials hope part of a new $44 million boardwalk will be completed by mid-July.